The Guardian and The Enchantress
by Jackie Winters
Summary: For years, Realm Champions had Divine allies to trust. With Eli as Realm Champion, as the Shane, he too must now meet this Divine. But dark forces are coming...
1. The Divine Pairing

When the first Shane came to Slugterra, they met the Divine.

They became great allies, helping to put order in a land that had always been full of dangers and constant fighting.

They worked together, to find a balance between the mystics and the people.

Their allies were the Shadow Clan, who they made promise to always keep the land safe when it was clear that no Divine or Shane could be there.

This powerful bond was known as the Divine Pairing.

It was an unbreakable trust. A bond made of love between the two people. Love of family, of friends, or even future lovers.

This was an alliance that lived throughout the ages.

But as the West grew more modern, more engulfed by the technology and industrial life, few were left who believed in the Divine.

They became nothing more than an old wives tale, told to children.

But the Shane family knew better.

The secret of the Divine was passed down from Shane to Shane, so that they would always have an ally who would be able to move the caverns themselves to help their friend.

The Divine Pairing is always going to find each other.

Be it as family.

As friends.

As lovers.

Whatever fate would decree.

They will find each other.


	2. The Hidden Cavern

It had been one year since the incident with Tad.

Two years since Eli had taken over as the new Shane.

Two very long years of trying to make a name for himself. Of saving the world.

Of dealing with the pain of losing his father twice.

He shook those thoughts away as he focused on the path ahead, one which Pronto had said was a 'shortcut' home.

Said shortcut had lasted an hour and left many of them with bug bites, bruises and scratches all over.

But this shortcut was also taking them through an unknown cavern.

One they'd certainly never heard of.

And had never seen, as when Eli caught sight of the white mega flora fungi before him, he hit the breaks on L-KE and looked up at the sight in awe.

Once his awe faded, he gulped with worry.

Was this cavern... Dying?

He'd only seen white flora and fungi before once. That encounter hadn't been one of much joy at all.

It'd left him with scars that still ached.

He broke free from his thoughts when he heard slugs chirps and whistles.

Burpy returned the hellos from the native slugs with delight, making his slinger chuckle.

No, the cavern was very much alive it would appear... It just was different than most.

He'd certainly never heard of it.

And judging by Pronto's confusion of it being in the shortcut home... Even his team didn't know of such a cavern.

They were in awe as they rode further through this hidden world.

The flowers blooming were almost the size of houses. Their colors shone intensely besides the stark white of the fungi trees that almost reached the ceilings of the cavern.

There were slugs here that they'd never even seen before. Trixie made sure to document them for later research.

The river they spotted was almost crystal clear, the waters such a bright blue that it didn't look real.

This was a place untouched by humanity. One of the last that they'd ever seen in Slugterra.

It was like a haven, far from any industry, any greedy CEOs or someone who'd make a pretty penny tearing the place apart.

Curious slugs not so subtly followed them, their chirps like a song as the Shane, their film maker, wonderous mechanic and totally not egotistical tracker passed.

Eli wondered how long it may have been since they'd seen a human...

But that wonder was quickly short when he heard Pronto scream.


	3. Hell Breaks Loose

He had been trapped in this damned hellish inferno since Will had oh so bravely sacrificed himself for his son.

Two years of trying to break his way out of the Deep Caverns.

He had almost ended the Shane legacy, had almost rid himself of Will and his despicable son, once and for all.

But unsurprisingly, they'd caused his defeat yet again. And even when he was gone, the Shane still defeated him!

He foiled the plans of his so called son and had sent him to the Deep Caverns as if to make a mockery of him.

And this son was more pathetic than the thought...

The only good outcome of it all was the Lullabye slug he'd managed to bring with him.

He grimaced at the fact his heir had nicknamed the beast. "Piper". It would seem he'd have to straighten out his son and teach him a slug was just a tool, not a friend as the Shane had tried to make him believe.

He looked back to the now crackling wall he face. The grin upon his lips was one of malice, full of crazed desire.

Before him, was the broken remains of a forgotten portal back to Slugterra.

He had slain Darkbane to get this close to freedom once more.

Blakk poured the final vial of Bane blood and Dark Water as Tad watched, horrified. His slug matched his expression.

The ruined portal began to crackle with energy and life as the last drop fell.

Ruined rocks rose, falling into place, their ancient glyphs shining with power.

One final blast of energy.

The portal was complete.

The beast cackled with a laugh so insane it sent chills down his son's spine.

"Come now... We have some... Business to attend" he barked.

Thaddius Blakk stepped through the portal.

He would bring the caverns to their knees, he would bring Hell to the lands until they were his forever more.

No one would stop him this time.

No one.


	4. The Girl

Eli watched Burpy play amongst the cavern's wild native slugs with a smile.

The Shane looked down at his bandaged hands, carefully flexing his fingers to avoid any further pain. The thought of the thorny vines made him flinch. They'd truly made a mark on him that would quite literally leave scars.

A chirp caught his attention and he looked up, just in time to see Burpy fall into the Aquabeek pool he'd been playing next to.

A soft chuckle escaped Eli at the sight and he relaxed.

It was insane. Just a few hours ago, he'd been fighting off the caverns sentient flora.

It started because of Pronto's old mecha-beast. It'd gotten all tangled up in the roots and hanging vines that surrounded them.

In an attempt to get free, one of the gang had fired a Thresher, try to cut him free.

Admittedly, it was not a smart choice in the end. It only made it worse.

All around them, the vines burst to life in a fury.

They began to try and form a cage, a dome around them.

Their first instinct was, of course, to fire slugs at them. It was yet another bad idea. These vines simply grew stronger and more durable with each hit they took.

Not even a Vinedrill tamed these plants.

It was after one last Thresher that the vines sprouted thorns. They didn't realize it at first but those thorns would be a danger.

Eli tried to get the natural cage open , the thorns digging into his hands and arms as he tried to get free or at least create an opening.

It was not long after that struggle did they realize that these thorns were a danger. A hidden defense.

It started with their slugs. Those who'd gotten nicked by the vines began to look tired, pale.

Didn't take long to figure out that this too affected humans,trolls and molenoids

Kord was, surprisingly, the first to fall.

He'd taken most of the heavy damage,having been attempting to pry open the vine cage.

That worried them. It took a ton of tranquilizer to fell a cave troll, but these vines' venom did it in half the time.

And then one by one, the others fell too.

Eli continued to try and fight the plants, ridiculous as it sounded. They had to find a way out, get back home, get to a doctor-

Burpy's wild chirping interrupted his thoughts. The Infurnus gestured to Eli's blaster, signaling for him to fire him.

"Its no use, there's no openings left" his slinger replied, sounded almost defeated.

The Infurnus frowned and looked around, and squeaked, looking upwards.

Eli's eyes followed his slug's and he saw it too.

An opening. A small one, but it was still an opening ,just big enough to get a slug out.

Eli knew his strength was fading fast. It wouldn't be long before he fell unconscious next to the others.

With what little he had left, he loaded Burpy into the blaster. He aimed high, closing his eyes and saying a silent prayer. They needed help right now.

And he fired.

His legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed next to the others. He looked up just in time to see Burpy's familiar flames soar past.

It was hours before he returned.

Eli drifted in and out of consciousness, fighting to stay awake.

When Burpy finally returned, he wanted to stay awake.

His drowsy eyes managed to only see part of the vines retract.

A blurry figure and footsteps followed.

He couldn't hear their voice, try as he might.

He simply smiled weakly and fell back to sleep alongside the others.

When he next woke up, he was still on the ground, his team around him.

Only he wasnt exactly on the ground. Someone had placed him on a makeshift bed, just a blanket and a pillow to support his head.

He saw the same had been done to the others, and that someone had patched up the cuts they'd gained.

Looking down at his own arms, he saw the same went for him.

All the scrapes and deep cuts by the thorns were bandaged, and barely stung anymore.

He did have a splitting headache however, like he'd been hit by a giant truck.

The Shane eventually found a way to get up, although he did fall several times and knew Burpy would certainly laugh at the fact he fell on his face more than once.

The slugs that were around them suddenly seemed delighted to see him, some even hopping onto his shoulder to speak to him. Well, speak in their little squeaks and chirps that is.

But suddenly, they all seemed to go quiet and ran.

They heard something he didnt. Well, not at first anyway.

A soft hum, of a voice that wasn't too far off.

He followed the slugs, who also seemed to be guiding him towards this mystery voice.

It led him through more flora and fauna, and eventually, he got to the edge of a small pond.

And there, he saw a girl, collecting herbs and other plants.

Burpy was on her shoulder, chirping away and... She appeared to nod in response to what he would say.

"Burpy? " he called out, although his voice was much weaker now.

It was still enough however to get his loyal slug's attention .

The girl turned to look at him as well.

She blinked in surprise to see him there, but she wasn't scared.

"...Who are you?" the young Shane questioned.

She simply smiled.

"A friend who can help. My name is Elina"


	5. Rebuild

The cavern before him looked like no home to him.

It was a wasteland, barren and lifeless. No life to be seen any place near them. All that stood was a tall, tattered building.

Blakk Industries.

''Come, we have much to do, Tad" barked the voice of the company's monstrous creator.

The harsh order broke Tad from his thoughts, and he hurried to catch the man he called a father...If it was even possible to call him that at all.

A cold shiver went down the young Blakk's spine as he recalled the last time he had been in the citadel.

The utterly crushing defeat he'd endured at the hands of the Shane, his gang, and the Shadow Clan.

A defeat which sent him down to the Deep Caverns.

To his fall into a literal hell.

Once more, Tad was pulled from his thoughts by a loud alarm.

Before him, Thaddius Blakk growled in frustration, removing his clawed, monstrous hands from the palm scanner in front of him.

"This useless machine doesn't recognize me anymore it appears" he mused darkly, flexing the fingers of his own hand, grinning at his claws.

"Then... How will we get in? Is there a back door, or-?"

Tad's question was cut short as his father pulled him forward harshly, in front of the panel.

He chuckled in amusement, putting a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Oh there is no need for a 'back door', my son"

He typed a few commands into the panel before them, until a blank handprint scan reappeared again.

"Place your hand on the panel. "

The younger Blakk didn't hesistate nor question his senior, quickly placing his hand on the aforementioned hand scanner.

He gulped as the system completed it's scan of him.

His eyes remained on it, even after the scan was completed and the doors reopened as they had before when his father was in charge.

His father sighed in what seemed like relief and disappeared behind him, striding into the ruined citadel, seemingly forgetting about his own son.

Tad lingered at the panel still, reading what the system said in bold text.

"Perfect Match Complete.

Welcome Back, Dr. Thaddius Blakk"

The entire building still bore the scars of the many fights that had ocurred within its metal walls almost two years ago.

"There is barely anything worth saving here at all..." muttered Blakk.

So much potential wasted in this place.

His technology, his research, his creations, his plans, inventions. Everything he had built, his entire empire.

All forgotten and broken into pieces.

He stepped into the remains of his former office.

Menacing claws trailed across his ruined desk carefully as he recalled his crushing defeat not only at the hands of Will Shane, but his son.

His dear son, Eli Shane. A greater thorn in his side than his father had ever been. A clueless moron who believed he was invincible.

That Shane had annoyed him, caused him damage to all his operations, made him waste millions of gold to rebuild, and humiliated him in the eyes of thousands.

Clawed nails dug into the metal of the desk in his rage creating dents, crushing part of it with his brute strength.

"If we are to finally put that pest six feet under, we will need to rebuild at once, " he barked at Tad, who jumped at the harsh command and nodded quickly. Be it out of fear or understanding, it seemed Blakk didn't care.

"Where are we to even get the resources from? Everything here is destroyed and its impossible to even use it as anything but scrap," informed his son.

His monstrous father only chuckled, a sound that unsettled Tad, and pulled up a keypad on one of the damaged, flickering screens before him.

He punched in a code, and an account opened up on the screen.

"Funds will be of no issue to us... A good man always plans ahead after all, " Blakk mused and turned the screen to face towards Tad, who held Piper in his hands.

Placing her onto his shoulders, she hid into his hood as Tad himself looked at what the screen displayed. His eyes widened at how much was stored away in this one account alone.

Enough to buy a cavern. Maybe even two.

Certainly enough to rebuild what was lost.

"Now then, we will begin the rebuild process as soon as possible, "

Tad looked up at him in confusion.

"Rebuild? How can we even rebuild? Do we even have a plan to get back at the Shane? "

"Do not doubt me, son" barked Dr.Blakk .

He found a button on his desk, pressing it .

"As I informed you earlier, Thaddius... A good man, always plans ahead. Especially when it concerns the Shanes, and revenge. "

Blakk removed a worn down journal from the compartment he opened, and tossed it on the desktop.

Though it could barely be called a journal really.

Worn down, yellowed pages held by leather, it was more a book.

On its cover ,engraved, was the title.

Legends of the Realm

"Inside this journal is our plan of attack. For years, I studied Dark Water and its possibilities. Wanted to have power at my fingertips. However I learned there was more than just Dark Water, that held such power. With this..."

He took the journal, holding it up with a malicious grin.

"We will be able to find her"

Tad frowned in confusion, taking the journal into his own hands .

" 'Her'? What are you talking about? What 'her'? "

The elder Blakk simply chuckled, and smiled. It was a stone cold, spine chilling grin.

He urged his son to open the aforementioned journal.

Once he did, he saw what it held.

Countless articles of all forms, reports, even ancient texts translated. They were all years old, but a few recent ones remained.

They all were connected, mentioning supernatural incidents. People close to death being healed, caverns dying that became lush with life, rare slugs that returned out of nowhere.

These were all accounts that would be incapable, by even the strongest slugs.

"That is not all. Before I was locked away in Hell, I was able to find something groundbreaking. " informed Blakk, as Tad put down the journal.

Blakk pulled up a screen, and opened up a file.

"This video was recorded roughly 3 years ago, by scientists who were exploring an undocumented region of a cavern. They reported vanishing equipment, and the feeling of being watched. "

He played the video.

It was blurry, the camera shaking as if the one filming was afraid. Blaster fire could be heard in the background.

The plant life, white in color, was attacking the one filming, as if desperate to get their camera away, to get them away from the cavern. The person filming did indeed back away, but not before dropping their camera and fleeing.

Tad looked in confusion, but then something moved in the video.

Behind the defensive flora, barely visible with the blurred lens.

It was the silhouette of a person. The video's quality was too low to tell anything about them.

But one thing stood out.

They held fire in their hands. Fire that didn't harm them at all.

And to match their fire, their hair seemed to flow around them in a non existent wind.

The hair itself appeared like its own flame.

A blazing blue flame.

The figure appeared to notice the camera. And fired a blast at it, ending the video abruptly.

"This, is what our plan is, my son"

His father removed the screen from view and held a page from the journal.

On it , were ancient texts, translated into modern language.

The Divines , read the page.

Tad took the page, and read it over as his father spoke.

"The Divines,my son, are the most powerful beings in the realms. They are mightier than any slug, any ghouls I could ever create. Their power even rivals that of the Dark Bane. Tied to the Elementals, their powers are limitless

"It is power that not even a blaster can ever hope to rival. These warriors are capable of manipulating to power of a slug in their very own hands!"

Piper, who'd remained hidden in Tad's hood, squeaked fearfully at the mention.

Blakk laughed almost manically.

"It had been decades since such rumors about a Divine rose, even centuries! "

His face contorted into a wicked smile.

"With such power at our hands, we could not only rebuild..."

His eyes filled with malice, and his smile grew almost insane.

"We can make the entire realm sumbit to us. "

Tad gulped, and stepped back as his father began to laugh crazily.

His father slammed his hands down onto his desk, and his grin grew darker. He chuckled and looked right into Tad's eyes.

"We can end the entire Shane line once and for all! "


	6. Intruders?

The cavern wasn't desolate or anything of the sort.

It was just well hidden to the naked eye. After all, it hid secrets that one wouldn't expect to find.

Slugs people had hunted out of existence, plants needing a specific environment, animals so rare, she didn't know their names.

It was her little haven.

And it was lonely.

Sure, she had the occasional visits from her dear Papa, or Sigil, her rather...overprotective friend. But it would still be lonely. Slugs weren't exactly great at conversation, despite all they had to say.

The only times she wasn't so extremely lonely and bored, was when there was an intruder, lost traveler, or anyone who'd wandered into her isolated abode.

Though, it certainly never kept her from leaving of course, she did get out some times.  
Then again, it always was more fun to see who might wander into her home.

Like right now, when the intruders who'd wandered in...

Were a rather famous and well known group.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To say she was expecting them is a half truth.

Elina had been rather occupied with her latest natural medicine for the slugs. Slugs were tricky to heal if and when they got sick, but her years of studying the plant life of her home cavern had given her the knowledge needed to make these simple yet powerful potions.

And in that moment to her surprise, the Vinedrills whose vines guarded the cavern entrance were woken.

Pollen, the 'leader' of the Vinedrill Vine Guard the overconfident slug had formed, had practically bolted to Elina's house to tell her the news.

_'The Shane Gang is in the cavern!'_

''What? The Shane Gang? That's impossible, they'd have to be incredibly lost to have found this place!"

It would turn out they had indeed been lost, but well, she wasn't going to judge them for such a fact. She'd gotten lost in worse and more embarrassing places.

Elina didn't believe it still she heard one single shot ring out. Looking out of her window, she saw what indeed confirmed the infamous group was here.

An Infunus unlike any other, soaring high for anyone to see. He flew around in a panic almost, the way his movements went.

Soon as she could, she hurried out of the house, grabbing her blaster on the way out and a few slug shells. No matter how good they were, they were still intruding on the cavern. Their intentions were still not clear to her.

Not yet anyway.

She hurried away on foot, a couple wild slugs lagging behind her. (The small creatures were always curious of who or what wandered into the cavern.)

What she found was the Vinedrills encasing the gang in a cage of thorns.

"What happened here...?" she whispered softly, walking around the cage carefully. She reached out tentatively when a squeak made her stop.

_'Help them, please!'_

Turning to the source of the voice, once more, she found the Infurnus, now in his protoform. He looked worried, hopping over to her and squeaking almost helpless and pointing to his friends.

_'Please, they're hurt! Help us!'_ the young slug cried.

Her face softened at his pleas and she gently knelt down to pick him up. She didn't notice that one of the figures had woken up, just slightly, before falling unconscious entirely...

"Don't worry, I'll help... It's gonna be ok,"

It took a while to cut down the cage of thorns encasing all of them. The wild Threshers helped greatly, but that was only half the challenge they'd be going through. Getting them on their mechas to move to safety was a definite no.

And so, she instead returned to her house, grabbing what spare blankets and pillows she had to create a makeshift camp for them. It most certainly took a while to move them and lay them on the would be cots, but once they were more comfortable and stable, she tackled the task of treating their wounds.

As it would turn out, the vines the dear Vinedrill guards had summoned were _Spiritus auream ._  
Known also as 'Gilded Ghost Jasmine', it was flowers of a transparent golden sheen. They were mostly harmless, their toxin, if in small doses.  
But these intruders had not been given just any small dosage of said toxin...

And so, she gathered the needed supplies.  
Gilded Jasmine petals, the leaves of a Vinedrill flower,and crushed Jade root.

Despite the beautiful plants they originated from, the tonic tasted more like a horribly dull and disgusting cleansing juice made by a health obsessed nutcase.

Since she could not give them the tonic whilst they slept, she got to work at cleaning the hundreds of cuts given to them by the thorns. She'd gotten as far as treating the injuries of the cave troll of the group when she realized she needed to clean the cloths .

Standing up, she walked to the nearby pond. Leaning down, she began to clean the cloths in the water.

Elina hummed softy to herself, and it wasn't long before a few slugs joined her, one being the Infurnus of before.

What she did not expect, was for footsteps to come, as she talked to the darling slug.

"...Who are you?"

She was surprised to see him, for sure.

But she only smiled.

"A friend who can help. My name is Elina"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"OW!"

The Shane flinched and hissed in pain as the girl next to him, Elina, treated the cuts on his arms from the thorns.

"I warned you that it would sting, " she mused and continued to clean off the remaining dirt and debris from the unsuccessful scuffle.

Burpy laughed from nearby and Eli shot him a glare.

"Yeah well, I didn't exactly think it'd be this bad - _ow! _"

He pulled his arm away from Elina, clenching his hand tight and up against his chest from the pain

She simply smiled and shook her head.  
"This would go a lot faster if you didn't scream every time I tried to clean off the cuts,"

Putting down the cotton ball she held , she closed the first aid kit she had beside her on the mushrooms they were sitting on.

"Well it could have been worse. Kord's been known to cry like a baby when he's cut up so... Just a head's up," Eli commented with a chuckle, relaxing and putting down his hand, which still stung from the pain.

"I'll keep that in mind... They'll be fine though. Your friends I mean. The vines thorns have a natural sedative but it is completely harmless."

Elina smiled in reassurance.

"Now then, mind explaining me why you're here, Mr. Shane?"


	7. Log Date: ?

_Date :?_  
_Log #269_

**_It's been very long since I've been down there._**

**_But I couldn't allow him to escape. When he went through the portal, it stayed long enough for one last trip._**  
**_I didn't go through unscathed however. The energies of it lashed out against me, it left bad scars on my back as it closed behind me._**

**_But I had to go through it._**

**_His plan could end millions of lives. It could bring the realms to an end._**

**_If he gets a hold of her, things will go straight to hell._**

**_I need to find Eli. Warn him of the oncoming danger. His life is at stake if I can't get there in time …_**

**_I'll have to be careful too. If he finds me, I could be done for. If ANYONE finds me, I could be completely done for, my cover blown._**  
**_This is a mission of utmost stealth._**  
**_Were anyone to find out anything, danger would be imminent ._**

**_I musn't let anything happen._**

**_I fear the day I can't protect anyone, that my days are over._**  
**_Mustn't think about that now._**

**_The plan is simple, but yet so complicated too._**

**_Gather intel on Blakk's plan, by whatever means necessary._**

**_Keep the Shane safe. But never reveal my identity. Stealth must be kept . Even if it means I must stay away, as far as I must._**

**_Warn him, of the oncoming danger in our way._**

**_Save an entire realm._**

**_Should be easy, right?_**


End file.
